Ratchet & Clank After The Clock II: Aseer Asylum
by Ratchet Soulraven
Summary: The next part of the terrfiying adventure of Ratchet's most changelling and possibly last adventure. What's going on at the asylum? Which psychological killer will escape next?
1. Prologue

Okay, before we kick off with this story, let me just go through a few things.

This is the second part of my fanfic, but you don't need to read the previous one to understand this.

My PSN ID, email, memberships on various sites such as IGN and author photos are available to SOME hardcore fans of mine and those who I trust. Don't "like" my fanfic just to get these.

R&C is owned by Insomniac Games and I do not own them at all.

This story will be a lot less gorier and dark than the last, but there are a few things:

This fanfic will contain: Swearing, drugs, strong themes, strong violence, light horror themes, blood, crude humor and a torture scene. Read at your own risk.

If you want to chat with me, shot me a PM and maybe I'll give you my details.

On with the story. . . .soon.


	2. Gran Festige

It was a peaceful night in space, the asteroids were sailing smoothly across the dark purple atmosphere. The blinking lights of the near-by planet shone brightly in space, sending luminous glows across the endless area of space.

It was just stunning. Completely stunning.

But I didn't really take much notice of it. All I was thinking about was getting to our destination in one piece or without being kidnapped again.

This was the one time that me and Rex ever were completely safe and alone. We'd been through so much together and now we were finally free from everything.

For now.

Although we'd been through months of pain and misery, we knew it wasn't the end. We needed to get to the asylum and find out exactly what was going on there. It was our last clue to finding Firo and the Cragmites before they found the location of The Great Clock.

'So what exactly are we going to find there?' Rex asked, reclining in the chair of the ship. It was a very comfortable one, and I hadn't been sitting on anything softer than metal for the past few months and so I pretty much took well to the leather chairs, the extreme boosters and plenty of space in the back. He had taken off parts all of his armour and was relaxing. I could see through his black fur that there were countless bruises, scars, dents and splashes of dried blood. We'd both been through so much. I was just so glad that it was all coming to an end and all the pain, suffering, torture and misery was behind us.

I couldn't have been more wrong.

'We're going to the asylum,' I said, rubbing my eye. 'It was the last place where some of the Cragmites and others were seen. It's our only hope.'

'It could be a trap,' Rex said.

'I don't think so,' I said. Hurukan really had genuine compassion for us and I doubted he was being deceptive.

'You do know that this is where they send the criminally insane, right? The ones that are so evil and malevolent that they have been rumoured to be spat out by hell?'

'That's right,' I said uneasily, shifting in my chair.

'And what exactly do you expect to find there?'

'I don't know,' I said. 'That would be why we are going. Hurukan said it was the last place where the Cragmites were. Not only that, do you remember any other non-Cragmites on the facility?'

'I'm pretty sure, yes.'

'So then maybe they'll be either there, or were there.'

'Well then, off to hell we go,' Rex said as he started sleeping in the seat.

With nothing else to do I turned on the radio. The latest songs ranging from, "Horseshoes and Handgrenades" to "Solo" came on. I listened to them as they played slowly and gazed out the window to the cosmos. The brilliant streaks of green, purple, black holes and random planets beneath me took my breath away. The universe never stopped amazing me. There was no end to it, no limit, and there was not a single person that had done everything that there was to do in it. Incredible.

I realized that I had never even known about this part of the system. I stuck with the one I knew. I never realized this existed. There was really no end. But I wouldn't have it any other way. This was an amazing place.

But of course I missed home.

I thought about it as the songs switched over to Queen, Korthos Day, and Led Zallstloin. I thought about Clank and my friends that I hadn't seen for months and months. I had gone through so much cruelty that I was filled to the gills with a lust for revenge. I remembered a long time ago that when bad things were done to you, you were supposed to "turn to the other cheek". Well, that might have worked for others but it didn't work for me. From now, I was going to settle the scores my way. Nobody else's way. Just mine.

I don't know for how many hours I flew the ship. It must have been at least seven hours. My legs were cramped and my back was on fire. You know the feeling? When you're sitting still in one space for hours and hours and not moving? Well, if you do, you'll know how I was feeling now.

Of course, as you'll most likely already know, there are plenty of stations to revive at.

I parked the ship at one of the stations. The ones that sell coffee, food and petrol. I checked the prices. They were getting higher and higher. Much higher than I'd last seen them, which was about three months ago.

I started re-filling the ship with petrol and boosters to the maximum capacity. I was secretly wondering if going to Aseer Asylum was a good idea. But it was our only hope of ever finding out what the Cragmites were up to. And my sector was about a 300 hours fly straight across giant nebula's, black holes, ice planets, and other vicious lands and elements that I'd not rather go through with our ship.

Besides, there wasn't enough time to do that at all. We couldn't board the public flights due to the "Lombax alert", we didn't have the cash for a first class style cruiser, and I doubted that "hitching a ride" would end us up anywhere except in more trouble and most likely suffering.

But what was there to do?

'Ratchet!'

I snapped out of my trance and saw that Rex was leaning against, the ship. 'The oil is leaking,' he said. I looked down and saw that the oil was brimming up of the slot and I quickly removed it as it dripped down the side of the ship, giving it an ugly black streak.

We both walked to the station to pay for the ship's petrol. This was also a place for information.

You see, this is a typical space-wise solid shot of information: Crooks and guys with something to hide lurk around this parts because no one ever comes looking for them here, and if they did, they'd be out-numbered 100-1. Simple logic.

After I counted out the bolts to pay, I leaned over the holo-desk and I asked, 'you know anybody here who can tell us about Aseer Asylum?'

The guy seemed to pretend not to hear, but as I walked away, he said one word. 'Him.'

I looked to where he was pointing. I saw that there was someone leaning against the station outside against the wall. He seemed to be sniffing some kind of powder. I raised an eyebrow and started walking towards him, not knowing what to expect.

It was cold outside. Comets and asteroids were sweeping back and forth above and below me. I shifted towards him.

'I heard that you're the person to talk to about some "information",' I said, making the last word obviously meaning something other than the others.

He didn't answer me for a full minute. When he did speak, it was in a raspy voice, as if he was made of metal: 'What sort of "information"?'

'Information about Aseer Asylum. . . .' before I could even finish my sentence he had with one moment swept my feet under me and pressed his knee to my stomach and placed his hand over my mouth. He had also produced a shotgun, one that was now pressed against my leg.

'Who are you?' He hissed in my voice. 'I swear, I will shoot in you in leg, and then in the other and several parts of your body if you don't give me answer.'

'No one,' I pleaded. 'I just want some information.'

'You're lying,' he said, clicking the gun with a sound that sent shivers down my spine. 'Maybe you'll tell me the right answer when you've got a few bullets in you.'

Before he could do anything, he was pulled backwards and flung away. The gun went off and into space. I got up. I saw that Rex was standing over him. He kicked the gun away and it went over the edge of the station. He struggled to his feet. Then he saw what species we were.

'L...l. . . .l. . . . .l . .Lombaxes?' he stuttered. 'I'll be damned. I thought your race was supposed to be extinct.'

'Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but there are two more of us that are still breathing, and we'd like some information. Please.'

'Come,' he said, beckoning towards a table and a few chairs on the other side of the station. 'Where no one can hear us.'

'I really thought that I'd even hear of one your race surviving let alone meeting one, and nearing killing one,' he said as he rubbed his hands together. Rex had bought fried chicken and the newest fast food accessory, and he was bent over it. I wasn't eating much. I wanted mental food, not physical food.

'So what about Aseer Asylum? I asked. 'And Gran Festige?'

'Gran Festige is the system outside of this one,' he said. 'It's huge. No one has ever completely crossed it. But it's a dark, blood thirsty, ruthless system.

There is no such thing as mercy. Only the strong survive. The force of nature leaves only the strong and cuts out the weak, each one for his own. It's patrolled by thieves, bandits, kidnappers, pirates, and even demons. No one knows what relies there. Innocent enough question: There was a DreadZone in Solona. It blew up after Team DarkStar got there. Would you know anything about that?' The expression on my face told him enough. 'They possibly are making more of those. Maybe hundreds all connected in one devastating chain. There are planets filled with nothing but the undying souls of The Old Ones. Ones filled with ice, some with sand, some with exotic jungles and plains, containing the Unknown.

'I've been there. Never again will I go. I went to a seeming deserted beach planet. Pirates where lurking in every corner of the island; their vicious and vicious traps set every corner of the planet. Their leader was a man so evil that it was rumoured that hell itself had spat him back out.

'Now, Aseer Asylum. It's a place for the criminally insane. Suspicious things are conducted there. People go missing. Ritualistic rooms, and even caves are scattered all the island, littered with never seen before items.

'Recently a few of them escaped. It was never done before. There was no way they could have done it, no way to get in, no way to escape, no way to get out. But they did it. It's on the corner of Gran Festige. All the criminals caught are sent there. Some of them couldn't be happier to go there compared what they came from.

'I know mere words can't stop you, but I must at least say this; no one has ever escaped before, there is no way. Some say it was done with escapology. Some say that they were never there. All I know is that something sinister is going on there, and death and doom lurks everywhere.

One thing I can say though, is that a tiny piece of paper was found there, on it was a single world and a single symbol.'

'Like what?' I asked.

He slid the paper across the table. I looked on it.

On the paper was in-scripted the word "Ratchet" and beneath it was a skull and cross bones.


	3. Welcome To Madness

**Okay, I've finally gotten around to this after a long few days (or weeks) of tests and gaming (cursed RPGs!) and here's the next chapter:**

* * *

'So, they were out to kill you, 'eh?' he asked, someone finding it humorus.

'I appears so,' I said, scrunching the paper into a ball and throwing it off the edge. I ran my hands through my fur, debating what to do next. Going there would mean possible instant death.

On the other hand, where else was there to go?

Nowhere.

'Where are we going to go now, hmm?' Rex asked.

'Where do you think?' I asked. I turned to the man who gave me the information. The seat he had occupied was completely empty, as if he was never there.

I turned to Rex. 'Let's go.' I said as I walked to the edge of the station. I was near the edge; one more step and I would I fall into oblivion for eternity.

I just stood there, not moving, staring into space, the asteroid sweeping majestically across the galaxy, never standing still, just continuously moving. No feelings, no life, no emotions.

No friends and family.

Like me.

'Wait,' I said as Rex was walking away. He turned back. 'What?' he asked.

'I never got to say this,' I said, my throat tightening all of a sudden. 'You walked with the whole time, while I was alone. We've been through all this together. You never left me. I promise you, I will never leave you. I've seen my life flash across the galaxy, ripped to shreds. Never have I have been more afraid. But you gave me the strength to continue. You gave me the will to keep on going. You told me that you'll never leave me.'

'And I meant,' he said. 'I promise that we'll be together until we die. And I'll make sure that it won't be happening any time soon if I've got a say about it.'

'It's just that miss them all so much,' I said, looking out to the entire galaxy. 'I've been away from Clank before, but this time it's just not right. I should never have allowed to let myself get taken like that.'

'Don't worry,' Rex said, standing by me. The galaxy was dark now, the asteroids sweeping back and forth majestically. 'We'll finish this, and go see them together. I promise.'

We walked back to the ship in silence. I climbed in the pilot's ship and Rex climbed in the passenger's. I took off as soon as I could.

After doing a 360 degree turn and spinning into space, we shot off into oblivion.

'Look at that,' I said, pointing down wards toward a whole new galaxy. It contained various planets filled with different colours and textures of different cultures and mystical spinning islands and black holes.

'Gran Vestige,' Rex said quietly. 'The system of eternity. It never ends; it has no beginning and no ending. It'd be nice if it wasn't a hostile and untamed place.'

'We'll find out sooner or later,' I said. 'That must be Aseer Asylum there.' In the distance was a planet. It was completely covered in metal and steel. Only the water in bits and pieces shattered the illusion that it was a Death Star and not an asylum. Cathedral-like building covered the entire planet; twisting pathways inside connected each building to the next. I wasn't sure, but I swear I heard low choirs in the background.

'I don't like the look of it,' I said. 'Yet, we're going to go.'

'Of course,' Rex said, pressing his head against the window of the ship. 'One expedition to death after another.'

'We'll be prepared this time,' I said. 'I'll make sure that I'll be the one controlling what goes on in our lives next.'

I steered the ship to the right and downwards; spinning towards the asylum, narrowly missing an asteroid as we shot downwards.

'What the hell are you doing?' Rex shouted as we plummeted even further down. 'You're both going to bloody get us killed!'

'I can't!' I shouted. 'The damn steering wheel is broken!'

'I knew it was a trap!' Rex shouted as he struggled to unto his seat-beat. Because it was a first class ship and built for speed, the ship's seats were special seatbeats; ones that had six parts connecting to it. Rex was struggling to undo his.

'Don't take it off!' I shouted. 'If you do you could kill yourself!'

'We're going to die anyway!' he yelled.

For a moment I was reminded about me in the ship with Qwark. How long ago was that?

Eternity.

The ship's wailing snapped me out of my illusion and I saw that the ship was heading directly to an asteroid. At the last minute I dodge it, but it caught on the side and it sent the ship spinning even more and more faster.

We were in the atmosphere of the asylum now. We were heading towards the cliffs. The rocks were as black as ash as the water was.

'I can't undo it!' Rex shouted. I undid mine and then tried to undo his. It was stuck fast. The hatch of the ship flew off and smashed against the rocks below. So did the wings and front. The glass flew back at us and some of the shards imbedded themselves in my fur.

The ship was a few seconds away from the rocks. With a single movement I grabbed a piece of the shattered glass and cut through the seat-belt. We both jumped away from the ship as it smashed against the rocks and into the ocean. We both narrowly missed the rocks and we landed in the water.

The coldness revived my senses as we both swam to shore and walked up the stony beach. We both then collapsed on the ground near-by. I rolled onto my back and as I stared up at the sky my vision blurred and I passed out.

Hours later as I woke up I could see that I was lying on a reclining chair, my bloody knee was wrapped in a bandage and soaked in healing oil.

I turned my head and saw that a man was standing near-by. He was much older than I was and was wearing a suit. He had a stiff coldness and friendly warm theme about him at the same type. He was sitting in an oak chair. He looked up as I awoke.

'I was wondering when you were going to drop by,' he said as he slammed the leather bound book shut with a snap and turned to me. 'We saw you flying in. As it is customary we tapped into your ship and heard every word you said. Standard procedure.

'So then you know why we're there?' I said as I got to my feet wobbly.

'Yes, we do. You're looking into why and how the Cragmites escaped and their cell mates. Am I not correct?'

'You are,' I croaked.

'Good. In fact, we're investigating the matter ourselves. We have a few bounty hunters here; I'm sure that you'll be able to plunder into the issue with them.' Just then Rex came in. 'I suppose you both want to know who I am. I'm Jason Vemdominlatingerion; professor of this asylum, and founder. You can just call me Vemdi if you wish to.

'So, two of the Cragmites and their three cells mates took off one night. Their cells are connected by a sonic wall, which is only opened so they can socialize.'

'What were they in for?' Rex asked.

'Far too long and complicated to explain; but for mass murder, arson, kidnapping, and endless more causes. The reason that they're her rather than an ordinary prison is because some of them at times have delusions of fantasies. One of them thinks that every person who they see is an ordinary person; that they still live on Kerwan. They've created an elaborate fiction that they aren't even here. Some of them even believe that they are other people in other galaxies. But that's not the issue at hand. We don't know how they escaped. The doors were locked from the outside, the windows were all protected, and the camera feed doesn't show any traces of their escape. It's like they evaporated into thin air.'

'How is that even possible?' I asked. The impact of all the information was almost too much to bear.

'Would you care to meet the bounty hunters?' Vemdi asked. 'I believe that they are currently interrogating everyone who was on duty that night.'

'Sure,' I said, my mind not capable of saying anything else.

Vemdi handed me and Rex two long black coats, ones that covered the head and went down to the feet. 'It's nearly always raining here,' he said, 'so I suppose you'll need these.'

I put it on. It was far too big for me, but I still liked it. It was surprising warm and comfortable. I put the hood over my head. It was even big enough to cover my ears; which were more longer than the average Lombaxes', but still, I didn't have many to compare to.

We followed him down a long line of corridors, and finally down a spiral staircase that was the colour of ash. The whole place was dark and depressing. It was starting to seep to my head.

He pushed the doors through another corridor, and we were suddenly in a large room that contained about fifty people, from Cazars to humans to a mix of both that I've ever even seen before.

Two of the people who had the most authority in the room up until now were two guys. One was a human, his skin a strong black colour, and the other was a Cazar.

(A/N: I have forgotten all the names of the R&C species as I haven't played the PS2 ones in ages, but with the spare time I have I'm learning them again for your benefit!)

They were both wearing trench coats similar to ours; one was holding an electronic notepad to record what was being said. They were facing about thirty people who were varied in species and emotions. Some of them seemed nervous that they were being asked questions by top-dog bounty hunters, and some seemed to enjoy it.

Me and Rex leaned against the wall in the corner, waiting to see what would happen.

'Anybody know what happened that night?' The human asked, peering around the circular room. 'Anybody? What happened the last time you saw them?'

'They were all in different rooms at different times,' said one of the staff members. She looked bolder than most of the rest.

'And? What were they doing?'

'They were in a group therapy session.'

'Did anything unusual occur?' the man asked.

'Define unusual,' she said.

'What?' he asked, not sure if he'd heard correctly.

'This is a mental intuition for the criminal insane. "Unusual" is part of everyday activates.' Sniggers bounced off the walls around the room.

'Okay then,' I could tell that he was pissed at the fact that the mickey had been taken out of him, 'let me rephrase that for you. Did anything occur that was in any way different, from normal?'

'No. Not at all.'

'Are you sure?'

'You think I'd lie to about something that fifty other people saw?'

'Who was on guard duty that night?' After a minute and a half of nervous waiting, one man put his hand up. 'Me.'

'And, did you move at all from your place?' More waiting. 'I demand an answer,' he said. 'Tell me the truth.'

'I maybe, went to the bathroom once,' he slowly said.

'You breached protocol,' said Vemdi, slowly shaking his head. 'My god. . .'

'I wasn't gone one minute,' he insisted.

'It doesn't matter. You still were gone. They could have escaped in that time period easily. You allowed five of the universe's most dangerous fugitives to escape. Do you read me?'

'Loud and clear, Mr. Swalchski.'

'Call me Sir, goddammit.'

'Yes, sir.' He swallowed, under a giant amount of pressure.

'Do you want to look at the room?' Vemdi asked, trying to break the silence. 'You might find something you're looking for there.'

'Like what?' Swalchski snapped.

'How would I know? You're the bounty hunter; that is if I remember correctly, because your attitude is a terrible example of a reminder.'

'Let's go. Now.' This was the first time the other bounty hunter had spoken. He also seemed to notice that there was an extinct race of creatures in the room but had the sense not to mention it.

Without a word they both walked through the doors. We followed them. Only then did they notice us.

Swalchski shook his head slowly. 'The funny thing is, although I have caused the extinction of multiple species, the last thing I expected to see in an asylum for the criminally insane was two Lombaxes.'

'Yeah well, that happens everywhere,' I said. 'Shall we continue?'

'The rooms were protected by unbreakable steel walls, camera, gel lasers, trip wires, the lot. There is no way to escape. We actually got escapologists to test it out. They couldn't even get the slightest idea how to escape; and these guys are the sort who tied up themselves to the bed with fours limbs to sleep; wear handcuffs for half the day, and shower upside down while wearing strait jackets. I'm pretty sure that if anyone ever had a chance of getting out, it was these guys.'

'And they didn't, I presume?' Swalchiski asked bluntly.

'Obviously not,' Vemdi said. 'But we do that we must have had some outside help to escape. It's the one and only explanation.'

He entered a fifty digit code, scanned his fingerprints, eye, voice pattern, everything. He then entered all the codes and ids for us all as we went through the bio-scan.

'These were the rooms,' Vemdi said as he led us inside and shut the door behind him. There were offices on the floor above the rooms. Vemdi led the way up there.

'Okay, the rooms were all on lock down after 10 pm. They all somehow each got out of their rooms, disabled all the alarms, escaped without a single person seeing them, all in the time period of five minutes. It's not possible.'

Swalchiski leaned against the railings, trying to understand the perspective of the rooms.

'Why don't you have restraints in the rooms?' he asked finally. 'You could at least strap them to a chair to be safe.

'These are not prisoners,' Vemdi said bluntly. 'They are patients that should be treated with respect, dignity, and justice.'

'Like they did with their victims,' Swalchiski said.

'Look at these pictures.' We all turned to gaze at the frames on the wall. There were pictures of various patients being tortured and pain inflicted on them in various ways.

'Those pictures were extremely accurate,' he said quietly. 'We used to hang them upside down overnight; starve them; and even sub-merge them in icy-cold water as if doing so would cure them of their lunacy.'

'And your personal view, doctor?' I asked.

'I believe that treating a patient with respect, dignity and kindles is as good as a cure can get,' he said.

While we were talking, Rex wondered down into the rooms. I spotted him but he knew he was doing something that he'd rather not anyone else see. I saw him slip a piece of paper into his pocket and then come back up the stairs.

I didn't know what he had found, but from the look on his face, I didn't think he could have found something more precious at that time.

* * *

**Suspenful, you say? Well too bad! **

**I'm open to any suggestions, I know I'll get reviews, but I want reviews with suggestions and feedback, not just "ims love this, lol" but constructive feedback that I can use to enhance this story.**

**Thanks!**


	4. Mortal Kombat

**Alright I know it'd been a fine but I've been snowed under with school, my part time job, finding new friends, and what not, but I've still had time to write this. . .. piece by piece anyways. . . .. . **

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'What did you find?' I asked him later. We were shown to our rooms. The rooms were suspended with metal poles in the air. The heartless sea shook and hailed below us. Water was dripping from the ceiling.

'I can't tell you,' he said. 'At least not yet.'

'Well, when will you tell me?' I asked. 'Is there any reason why I shouldn't know?'

He thought for a moment, then he got a sheet of paper and a pencil. He handed them to me.

'Okay,' he said. 'Make a maze that I won't be able to solve within two minutes.'

'This is pathetic,' I muttered, before taking the pencil and paper.

On my first try and I made a maze that I thought would be complicated. I was wrong. Rex solved it within twenty seconds.

I made another one, but this time I doubled the amount of twists and turns and lines. I handed it over. He solved it within one minute and a half.

I had an idea. Instead of making a maze with square lines, I made one with circular lines. It was much more complicated and complex. I handed it over with a smug grin my furry face.

He couldn't solve at all. He had no idea where to start or finish.

'Well done,' he said. 'I'll now show you what it is.' He opened a scrap of paper with weird writing on it.

'What's this?' I asked.

'An old coded language,' he said. 'Lombax and Zoni combined and twisted into oblivion. Not only that, these symbols contain supernatural powers.'

(A/N: These few next paragraphs ARE based off real abilities and real powers. It may be sci-fi, but the base theme is still real.)

'Like what?' I asked.

'Like being able to float, being able to read other people's minds, and even disappearing.'

'That's how they must have escaped!' I exclaimed. 'There's no other explanation for it.'

'But the catch is: No one is gonna believe us,' Rex said.

'I suppose, but what's the worst that could happen?' I asked.

'We're in a lunatic asylum and you're thinking about telling other people that we think that they escaped by magic symbols and transportation?'

'Right,' I said. 'Not a good idea then.'

'But there should be something that we can do though,' he said. 'A lot of people here are very open minded, but there is a possibility that someone helped them out.'

'I thought all the staff were checked,' I said.

'Still, something's not right,' he said. 'We should still go to bed now.'

I pulled the wafer-thin covers over me. I didn't take any of my clothes off for the simple fact that I was too cold and that my clothes provided more heat than the sheets.

I thought about home and everyone there whilst I slept. I tried not to but the thoughts kept coming back to me constantly.

Fortunately though I fell asleep... . .

. . .

. . .

. . . .

.. . .

I was cold. Extremely cold. I was submerged in water, covering my head and my face. I couldn't breathe. I was sinking lower and lower and lower. . .

. . . .

.. . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

I woke up with a huge start. It was raining outside. Some of the rain was dripping on my chest. I got out of the bed in relief of my dream being a dream and nothing more.

I looked at the wall.

It gave me a huge shock.

On the wall was inscribed were the words: 'Get Out'.

What was worse was that it was written in crimson red. I was completely sure what exactly that red was.

'Was the door locked by any chance?' I asked.

Rex went over to the door. It was locked. The windows were barred and the key was around Rex's neck.

'Now I'm sure that they've been using the Lombax symbols,' I said. 'There'd no other way, right?'

'That just about sums it,' I said. 'We're in grave danger, aren't we?'

'Nothing unusual,' Rex said. 'We'll just have to get to them before they get to us.'

'I'm not too sure that it be happening any time soon,' I said.

. . .

. . .

. . .

. . .

I was walking around outside alone. The bitter cold was stinging my fur. I was grateful that I had my jacket, or I wouldn't be able to walk around at all due to the strong cold of the bitter wind.

I was thinking. If they had all escaped via the Lombax symbols and with some form of art, shouldn't everyone else know about it or at least had some form of idea of what was going on.

I looked out towards the water that was spraying all over the rocks and then up in space. I could see the asteroids sprinkled above me. I wondered what Clank was doing. . . .all those thousands of kilometres away from me. . . .

I then felt myself being pulled back by strong hands and shoved on the ground. Huge guys and two girls were gathered around me. One of the girl landed a vicious kick with her book to my gut. I scrunched up in pain.

'Hello there!' One of them said. I shivered when I heard him speak. He started crushing my left wrist with his thick boot.

'What do you want?' I spat.

'Well,' he said, driving his foot into my boot even harder, 'I'm in the mood for a fight, ya see, and you're the only one around here that won't knock my teeth out within a few seconds flat. So of course, you are my first choice.'

I spat straight into his eye, and then did it again, hitting him in the exact same spot as before. I tried to scramble up but the others grabbed me and held me on the ground before I could move again.

'Bad move my furry friend,' he said, wiping the spit from his eye. 'Bad move.' He ran up and smashed his boot into my gut again. I doubled up in unbelievable pain. He was cracking up, laughing.

'Let's go furball,' he said, drawing a large circle with his foot around us both. You cross this line before I'm unconscious or dead, you'll wish you were.' I gulped. 'You first.'

My mind was racing. Even if I somehow could beat him, his friends would still make me suffer. Maybe the best thing was too take it and get it over with.

I let my guard down, and he rained a vicious series of blows, kicks and knocks to my small frame, hitting me in the exact same spot as before. He then knocked me to the ground. I was unconscious for three seconds before he dragged me to my feet.

'You win,' I said gasping. 'You win. Well done.'

'You get back here,' he said, before he smashed his elbow into my neck.

I was going to just walk away, but after the weeks that I was suffering, I wasn't going to show him any mercy at all. It was like I'd forgotten mercy. The ability wasn't in me anymore.

I thought carefully what I was going to do. I could take him by surprise, but I had to be brutal, otherwise it would be the end of me.

I planned it ahead.

First, distract target with towel.

Then block his blind jabs.

Counter with cross to left check. Make ears ring, and give out shin kick.

Employ elbow block, and body shot, and jaw smash.

Dislocate jaw entirely, and bring cracked ribs.

Dramatize solar plexus. That brought me back to Axiom city. . ..

Then wind up for brutal kick to balls and gut, and upwards fist to chin.

Ears ringing, kicked shin, cracked ribs, dramatized solar plexus, body punched, jaw smashed, ribs broken, kicked balls, wrenched gut, broken chin, and head ache.

Physical recovery: 6 weeks.

Psychological recovery: 6 months.

I planned it all.

I went over to the towel and picked it up. I then went ahead with my plan, doing exactly what I planned to do with every single move, except I was five times more brutal then what I planned to do. I kicked him backwards with so much force and that not only did he fall over and bump into everyone, he was carried backwards he smashed into the boathouse, splintering all the wood and ice surrounding it.

I never thought that I'd ever be able to do that. Ever.

They all grabbed me and one of them put my head in an elbow lock.

'We're going to have some fun afterwards aren't we?' he said. I started shivering.

'What's going on here?' I turned and saw a few of the staff members looking in my direction, seeing the whole situation.

'Release him. Now.' I was almost scared to see the amount of the effect that the words had on them. They dropped me to the ground where I lay. I was lucky that I had that giant coat of mine. If I didn't I would have been dead already.

I was beginning to close my eyes, and as I did, I heard someone shouting something and shaking me, but I closed my eyes before I could find out what they were saying to me.

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

'. . .aren't you lucky to be alive. . .'

I heard those words from hundreds of kilometres away. I was lying down on my back, too tired to move. My eyes felt like lead weights as I closed them again. . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . ..

. . . .

. . . .

'. . .RATCHET!' I woke up with a jump. I was in the room again. Rex was sitting next to me on a chair reading a thick and heavy book that he obviously didn't want to read.

I saw that I was still wearing the same clothes as before. I was grateful for that as there was no way I could have survived the cold.

'So what happened?' he asked me.

'Long story,' I said as my bones clicked into place. 'What happened after I passed out?'

'Well the guy who you shot through a boathouse and through thick ice is now in a heap of trouble as he was about to kill you.'

'What did I do that he would want to kill me?' I asked.

'Other than we being Lombaxes, travelling here and looking for trouble, we're on a island for the criminal insane. That good enough of a reason?'

'I suppose so,' I said.

'So did you find out anything at all other than how to pick a fight?'

'I wasn't picking a fight, they came after me.'

'Whatever.' Rex clearly wasn't in the mood for debating. 'How your wrist?'

'Painful,' I said, feeling a huge amount of squashed bruises and bones in my wrist. 'These guys must have really hated me. A lot.'

'Well, it looks like all the staff members are in the clear,' Rex said. 'So we must be correct, and although all the staff members didn't have anything to do with them disappearing at the time, it doesn't mean that none of them had something to do with overall. But they won't tell us anything.'

'Why?' I asked.

'They're scared,' Rex said. 'Scared of this place, scared of the cold, and scared of the patients. And I don't blame them either. This place gives me the creeps.'

'Me too,' I said. 'Can we discuss this later?'

'Sure,' he said. 'The bounty hunters have asked everyone around here questions. It seems nobody knows a thing.'

'That can't be good,' I said.

'Not at all,' Rex said, standing up out of the chair. 'Are you hungry?'

Up until then I wasn't aware of the hollow pit in my stomach. Now that Rex mentioned it I was extremely hungry.

I moved off and the bed and sat on the chair for a moment before putting my shoes on. I was extremely tired and drained of energy.

Suddenly the lights went off.

I could hear people yelling in the distance. The room was eerily quiet.

'Rex?'

No response.

'Hello?'

I heard a muffled sound. One that I couldn't tell what it was. I heard something move. I moved towards the sound.

Suddenly I was tackled to the floor. Something was on top of me and it was trying to choke me. I tried to kick it off but I felt my arms being pinned to my sides. I felt a hand go over y mouth, and I felt some sort of metal band locking around my arms and legs.

He kicked out at random and caught him on the chin, knocking him backwards. I stumbled a few paces forward and tried to catch him. I felt something nearby and I then jumped on top of it and got it in an arm lock.

We were rolling round on the floor for a half a minute before I finally let go and switched the light on.

'That was me you moron!' Rex shouted, rubbing his now red neck. 'Were you trying to kill me?'

'Yes, but I thought you were the other guy,' I stammered.

'Who is now gone,' Rex muttered, pointing towards the open door. 'Well done.'

'It was an accident.'

'Whatever.' He clearly wasn't in the mood.

'You'd better come and look at this.' I turned around. I saw one of the guards standing at the door, out of breath. 'This is deadly serious. Your lives are at stake.

What else was new?

* * *

**Tell me what you think, and above all please feel free to PM me anytime you want, and I'll reply to just about every single message I get unless it's spam. . .so please read, enjoy, and maybe review and PM.**

**Cheers!**


	5. What's Your Poison?

**I know this chapter has been a long time in the making...and I'll try to make it up to you. I've had so many assignments, classes, work and etc that I haven't had the time...**

**..and of course with all the new releases of games such as GT5, Fallout: NV, Halo Reach, etc, it gets a little hard to do this...**

**..anyway I'm also sorry to say that after this fanfiction and the next one I won't be doing any more R&C fanfictions. I'm not getting the attention or reviews that I expected to or should be for the time I put in. I'll come back when the fanbase is a little bigger...but after these ones I'll be doing a Ninja Gaiden Sigma fanfiction, Bioshock, Halo, Final Fantasy or Fallout...not sure yet...but please don't think it's your fault...I'm just a little bored with what I'm writing now.**

**Anyway...continue:**

* * *

'What is it now?' Rex asked. 'Something just attacked us and ran out the door. Didn't you see him?'

'No. I was looking for the you. I was in the hallway for 10 minutes. I didn't see anything.'

'That's impossible,' I said. 'Someone came here and turned the room upside down and ran out that door a few seconds ago and you say no one was in the hallway?'

'I told you that. You can even check the video cameras. No one was here except me.'

'Something's not right here,' I said.

'Sort it out later,' he said impatiently. 'Just come and see this at once.'

We filed out of the room. I was wondering how on earth someone could get into the room without being seen and then leave by the only exit and not been seen. It didn't add up.

Nothing did. Not here anyway.

The guard led the way down to where a large basement was. He flicked on the lights, and a scene that I would never forget was shown.

The whole floor was scattered with weird markings, twisted drawings and burnt bones. Bones that had rotten flesh on them were on the ceiling, hanging, and every single piece of space was taken up and vandalized.

**(A/N: What follows it going to be a very brutally realistic ritual scene. This is not fiction or my imagination; this is a real scene that is found in real life. If you don't want to read about it, then please don't.)**

'What's that?' I asked, pointing to a symbol carved and burnt into the wall. It was a triangle, with a line across it, and in the middle of that line was another line going straight down, and the ends twirled and twisted outside the triangle.

The worst thing was middle of the room was a pot. It was empty, but inside it was not a foul smell, but a sickly sweet smell that reminded me of blood and sugar and honey.

I looked up and saw that there was a Lombax symbol on the wall...one that only three people I knew could read and write from memories. Two of those people were me and Rex. The other was...

No.

No chance.

He was dead. I saw him being sucked down and down and down...there was no way he could be alive.

Now wasn't the time.

'So these guys want to do some form of performance on us then?' Rex said. He seemed to be calm and easy going.

'Judging from these images, I'd say "performance" is the lightest word you can use to describe what they mean.' My fur stood on end. 'I've seen these before; they're symbols of sacrifices and the supernatural.'

'I don't believe in the super natural,' Rex said. 'And I never will.'

I wasn't sure what to believe. Never before had my path crossed with this type of situation before...had it?

It had.

I remembered the days of Dread Zone...what had they said when I completing against one of the gladiators there?

'...his hatred of chocolate, puppies, and rainbows, his bike gangs and dabbling in the occult...'

Oh. That.

I couldn't believe that they had actually brought that issue up all the way here.

Or maybe they were trying to tell us something.

I dismissed the notion. That was my unbelievably huge mistake.

'So what exactly is this supposed to mean to us?' Rex asked. 'Because it seems to be that you brought us down here for nothing.'

'There's your race's symbol right there above a death symbol, and this place is prepared for a sacrifice and you think it's unimportant?'

'I didn't say that...'

'I told, you are in great danger. You have to leave as soon as you can.'

Was he trying to encourage us to leave? Was there something here in this asylum that he didn't want us to see?

'I'm not afraid of-'

Then the lights all went out again.

I stood very still. Not moving. Listening for the quietest count that I could hear for.

Then there was a staggeringly loud death scream right next to me. I felt the sound rattle my bones as it was so brutally sounding.

The lights flickered back on. I saw that the guard was on the floor. Lying very still, red liquid was concealed on the floor around him.

I looked and saw that there was a giant hole through his face and chest. His cheek had a hole the size of a coin in it. His chest had a hole the size of a plate in it. It was already starting to smell.

Then I noticed something. His hair was black before the lights when out. Now it was blond.

The lights went out again. I tensed once again. I felt something clutching me. I felt Rex grabbing my arm.

'They can't kill both of us at the same time.'

He obviously was used to this sort of thing. It was a real pity that I wasn't as well as he was.

I felt myself being knocked to the ground and crashing onto the floor. Not a mille-second too soon I kicked out with my foot and caught my captor in the face. I felt it crunch against his face.

He then ran up the stairs and opened the door and ran out.

The lights came back on. I saw Rex on his feet already.

I ran after the guy who tackled me. It was going to find out what exactly he wanted with me and my life that was so broken because of them. I was going to make them pay.

I broke out of the room and saw a dark figure running away. I chased after him.

He turned the corner and slipped through a heavy metal door. I heard warning shouts behind me. I ignored them and kept going forward, ignoring them. I was focused on catching this person.

I entered into the room. The heavy metal door slammed behind me. I felt an automatic lock going into place.

This was wrong.

Suddenly I kept running. He was in my sights. Someone in a black cloak. He was a human from what I could see.

Was that a good thing?

I finally realized where I was. I was in a place where they kept the insane who were extremely insane. There were several rooms with thick metal doors on them.

I suddenly tripped and fell face first. The guy tripped me up and pressed a knee on my furry back. I squealed at his weight.

'You naive teenager,' he said into my ear gently before he picked me up and slammed me down on the ground. He was not the typical 'bad guy' that you see in the comic books. He was handsome and nice looking. If I was a person who fantasized about the same sex, I'd have found him somewhat attractive...but I wasn't so that didn't matter.

I despised him and everything he represented.

He tried to aim a kick at my stomach. I avoided it and brought my own leg up and caught him in the stomach. I then brought my knee to his chin as I stood up. I then slammed my elbow on the side of his head. I never knew that I had that strength. Hatred does allow you to do things you never thought you could after all.

He picked me up and threw me against the wall again. I then saw what he was trying to do.

Stuck on the wall were heavy metal and plastic chairs with thick bindings on them that locked around the person sitting there so that they're arms squeezed to their body that was locked to the chair as restraints prevented it from moving off it, and their legs locked together to the floor and other devices. There was even something that kept the person sitting there's neck locked to the chair. It must have been something to restrain prisoners or something, but that didn't matter.

All that mattered was that he was trying to lock me in there. Then he would kill me.

He kicked me in the stomach and shoved his foot on my neck, crushing it. I moved aside and he lost his balance. I picked up a wooden chair and smashed it over his head.

He then swung his arm towards my face with shocking speed and knocked me to the wall, hitting me on the head and then knocking me to the ground.

I was dazed and I couldn't see properly. My eyes could only see water and light. I knew what he was going to do now.

He picked me up and shoved me against the chair on the right. Before I could do anything he pressed a button and my arms and were pushed against my body tightly and my whole body was locked to the chair as metal bindings locked my whole body in place. Then the worst of all came...a metal brace locked around my neck and retracted back into the chair.

He came right up to me and punched me directly in the face. It hurt even more when I couldn't move it.

He smiled...a faint and gentle smile that didn't belong to a person like him.

'Cheers Ratchet. You just made my job so much easier. I'll just call my team and they'll come and pick you up. We'll wait for your friend as well. He could be helpful.'

They obviously didn't know what he was or who he was. This was not from the Cragmites group.

'An old friend wants to see you. Well, he isn't exactly "old" but you'll find out anyway.'

He pulled a phone from his pocket – I was surprised it wasn't broken in the fight – and dialled a number.

I had an idea suddenly. My legs weren't locked to the floor yet as I was holding them out of radius which was sapping my strength. I had an idea...

I swung my legs at him as hard as I could. I knocked the phone out of his hand and I also knocked him backwards into the chair. Before he knew what happened he was locked in the chair just as I was – not able to move an inch and completely locked in.

I smiled as he had a pure look of disbelief and anger on his face. I was cracking myself up considering that I was in the same position as he was.

He stopped struggling and said nothing. He had a look on his face that looked like it would kill. Me seeing made me start laughing again.

'Shut up you son of a bitch,' he said suddenly. 'We could be here for hours, or even days until they get past the locks and doors.'

'And that's all your fault! Next time make sure you know where my legs are. You won't regret it! I started laughing again, which of course made him even angrier with me.

It was strange thing that I was laughing, as the metal bindings locked around my body were crushing me and my arms that were locked to my sides. My backside and back were already starting to burn from the tough combination of metal and plastic that I was sitting on, built all that didn't matter.

All that matters was that I we were one step ahead of them all already.

That beat everything else by far.

'So how long do you think we'll be sitting here?' I asked smoothly.

'I jammed about 5 doors on the way here and they'll have to find us, so maybe about a day or two.'

'At least you didn't think to call them before you caught me,' I smirked. 'They would be so ashamed if they saw you like this.'

That set him off again. It gave me so much pleasure, and the only thing that took anything from that was the fact that I was locked in as well.

I ignored him and stared off into space. I was wondering when any of them were going to show up and rescue us. I was already sick of my arms crushing against my sides and having trouble breathing while sitting in a tiny space.

'You know Lombax,' the man said gently. 'I've activated gas to fill this room in one hour. This gas is fatal and brutally painful. So you'd better hope that they come soon.'

'You'll die too,' I said, a string of fear going down my spine.

'I'm immune. You won't die...you'll just be in a lot of pain if you don't fall asleep before then.'

'So I have to force myself to sleep right?'

He smirked. 'Pretty much yeah.'

I waited. Neither of us said anything. We just waited for it to come.

My eye rids were droopy and I was thinking about sleepy things. I didn't need much encouragement to sleep though.

Then I heard a hissing sound.

The gas.

I said a word that even Rex would find crude.

The gas was colourless and completely invisible to the human and Lombax eye but I could still smell it.

My eyes were extremely tried and I was so worn out and the gas was circling around my head...and I decided to have a snooze.

There was a voice in my head telling me not to sleep, but I couldn't help myself.

I drifted off into the Nexus.

* * *

**No, he doesn't die...**

**This fanfiction will only have a few more chapters but the last will have a lot of content and will be the most...nostalgia and brutalliest of them all.**

**Cheers!**

**-RR**


	6. Escape

Yes I know. It's been a while. But I'[ll try and make it worth the wait.

Oh yeah, I've put in extra strong themes this time - but not violence - so if you're not into that sort of thing, you'll probably cringe.

Please read on!

* * *

'Ratchet.'

I turned my head. I heard the voice come from another world. Another universe. Another dimension.

'Don't give up on me just yet.'

Why wouldn't the voice go away? I just wanted to sleep; to drift off into eternality. But the voice would not let me.'

'Don't die, you stupid bastard.'

I sub consciously smiled to myself. I knew who it was now.

I opened my eyes and saw Rex standing there, his arms folded. 'Always getting into trouble, never pausing for a second to see where the hell you're going.'

'It's good to see you too,' I said. I tried to get up but I couldn't. I just didn't have the strength to physically do it, so I gave up and lay back. I explained to him Rex what exactly happened.

'What happened to the guy?' I asked.

'Oh we have him,' Rex said, 'no need to worry about that.'

'How long have I been like this for?' I asked.

'3 days. You've been delirious and hysterical in your sleep. When you were shouting and I came to see what was wrong, you punched me straight in the face.'

'Did I really?' I was wondering if he thought it was on purpose or not, but he let it go.

'With your elbow too. Anyway, that doesn't matter. We've got the guy and they'll be asking him what his business was here.'

'They'd better. I'm so sick of this island to last myself a life time.'

'Ratchet, I need to tell you something. I've been thinking: if they' he made a hand motion to make up the substitute of the loss of words 'the Cragmites want to find the Clock's location, they can't force it out of Talwyn. So who do you think they'll go after?'

I suddenly felt very cold. It was like some twisted the emotion in my body in a familiar shape I almost died from.

'And more importantly, what do you think they'll do with Talwyn?'

Silence. 'I know you love her Ratchet, but there's a chance she's dead already.'

'I don't know what I was doing back then,' I said. 'I just blasted off after her when she was taken. I didn't look back, I didn't think. I didn't even say goodbye to Clank.' I smiled. A cold, dead, tearless smile. 'And it wasn't worth it in the end. Not anymore. I never really loved her. I did at first, but she's not my type, you know? I don't even know I when after her in the first place. I should have planned, been more careful, and strategic. I fooled myself thinking that she was for me. I just thought I could be a hero, but I'm not.'

'You madly in love weren't you?' Rex knew he was right as soon as he said it.

'Don't worry I'm still a virgin,' I said. 'I hope you are too.'

'Let's change the subject,' Rex said, playing the role of captain obvious too well. 'Once we get what we want, we're off. I'm sick of this place too.'

'I'm really tired, so do you mind if I go to bed again?' I asked, rolling over onto my back and pulling the sheets over myself.

'Not a problem. I'm going to see what I can dig up myself.'

His last few words were a blur to me as I drifted back into sleep.

I woke up with a jump. It was raining outside, and my head was killing me. I staggered to the medicine box and swallowed a few pills. The sort of pills they make in this area of the universe aren't either legal or the standard abilities of the pill that they should be.

I looked at the digital clock. I was asleep for two days.

Where was Rex?

I was out the door in a few seconds.

Where would he be?

I ran to the library. Not there.

The volcanic spa. Nada.

The bedroom, the main corridor, the offices. Zilch.

I asked if anyone had seen him. No one saw him. No results.

I was going crazy now. My vision was swimming, I couldn't talk, and my legs were turning to jelly. Strange shapes, symbols, signs, messages, faces, people, were twirling before my eyes. I was starting to be scared. I sunk to my knees, and then got up again. I was walking forward, and then backwards. I was then falling backwards, falling, falling and falling into eternity.

I opened my eyes. Where was I?

I was in the bedroom. I looked at the clock. It was the exactly same time that I saw it last. I got out of the bed and stumbled over to theme medicine cabinet. I paused; this was exactly what happened before. I had to stop overdosing on the pills...

I looked at the clock. Exact same time that I looked at it last. What the hell were these pills doing to me?

I decided not to take them.

But then I decided to take them despite this.

I suddenly knew why. Talwyn.

Did I really love her? The answer was yes and no. I did love her, but she wasn't the one for me. She didn't click with me. She didn't have what she should have had.

But she was the only one in the world who I ever loved who I had known well. She was the only one who I could have a connection with me.

And she was gone.

I didn't cry. I had nothing left in me. I felt hollow. I felt cleaned out. I wanted to feel better. Is was no time for feeling sorry for myself. That time was over.

I reached into the medicine cabinet. I took a shelf off and grabbed a door that opened up to another small set of shelves. There were a few bottles there. I reached for one.

***** **Warning! The following scene contains realistic use of drugs and illegal sources and above all the out-come and natural reactions. Make no mistake, this isn't Fallout 3, the reactions and methods are realistic. If you wish read on, but don't do so if you have something against this.** *****

While I was in DreadZone I was under more stress and misery than ever before; including what I had recently been through. I had to keep myself going both mentally and physically or I would have fallen off the grid. I don't even want to have thought what would have happened to me if I had.

Anyway, almost every single competitor there was a criminal or insanely lunatic. But they knew how to take care of themselves.

They were making drugs to keep themselves going. It was simple. All that was needed was a special infamous plant, nectar, seeds, the right amount of cooking, drying, baking, etc. There's a lot more to it obviously, but I didn't want to go into it now.

I took some. A lot. Powder that you snorted, plants that you chewed and sucked on, ejections and many more. They did a variety of things, but it was what I needed. The addiction had worn off but the craving was still there. I knew what I felt like then and I decided that I was in need of another dosage.

I reached for the capsule gingerly. My sight was straining, the distance getting longer and longer, my heartbeat ringing in my ears, my hands were shaking, I felt cold and brittle. I un-screwed the cylinder capsule and tipped my head back and snorted the powder up it. The whole world felt brighter and lighter. I needed more. I kept chugging it down my nose. I felt blood tripping from my nose. It was dripping onto the floor. I dropped the capsule. I felt better. I had done it.

It came again stronger and stronger. I couldn't take anymore. I would either get very sick or die. I ran into the shower and turned it on full blast on hot. I sank to my knees and smashed my head against the plastic wall. I couldn't stop the blood flow from my nose. I felt myself losing focus on the world. I saw Talwyn's face. Her shocked, disappointed face. I saw the faces of Angela, Al, Cronk, Zephyr, Sasha, Qwark, Azimuth, and Clank. Each had the look of complete disbelief and shock on their faces.

'Please forgive me guys,' I said as I rested my head on the floor with the water raining down on me with a smile on my face. 'I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.'

I wasn't unconscious but I was barely awake. Thoughts came and went through my head. Faces, images, people, conversations, events, places. Voices.

After a great deal of wasted water I finally got out of the shower. My mind was blank and over-whelmed at the same time. I threw myself on the bed. I didn't know what else to do with myself. I just knew that I was hooked again and it wasn't going to go easily.

It was hours before Rex came back. He knew something was up the second he walked in. I was worried that he would find out, but I decided to be dumb for the sake of it.

'What happened here?' He asked. I didn't respond. He sniffed in the air. He smiled.

'I never had you pegged for the sort of guy who would take that loot,' he said. He seemed more amused than angry or annoyed.

'I had to,' I blurted out. 'I..'

Rex dropped to his knees and searched under the bed. He was clearly looking for the capsule. He stood up again with it. I thought he would destroy it, but he held onto it...fascinated by it. He un-screwed the cap and chugged the rest down. I was shocked that he would do that, but he didn't seem to be affected by it.

'I was a flat-liner,' he explained. 'I like to keep up my training whenever I encounter this sort of stuff.'

'Whatever.'

'Where were you today?' I asked him.

'Sneaking around. I don't think we're safe here. There's something about this place that gives me the creeps. I don't know who to trust.'

'So what do we do? We came here for a reason. Without here we have nothing,' I said.

'I know. That's why we'll be sneaking out of here. We'll be able to find more information elsewhere. Have you seen the amount of abounded prisons, towers, and warehouses on the island? It's all off limits, but it's not like that'll stop us.'

'When are we going to go?' I asked, my vision blurring and then focusing a lot more than it should before shifting back to normal.

'Tonight. It's not that hard; all we have to do is get out of this room, which is relatively easy. Then we'll find some place to stay . Then we'll explore the rest of the island for the information.'

'But what about that killer?' I asked. I remembered the images and shapes and remains of the ritualistic scene. I didn't want to be the victim of it. Not by a long shot. 'Don't we need protection?'

Rex threw something in my direction. It was a revolver. I recognized them. They were extremely dangerous, small, and could hold 500 shots without reloading. They had silencers as well. He also had a radar that detected movement in the area.

'He'll need protection,' Rex said. 'Not us.'

'I just hope we can find the information we need and we can be out of here. Then it'll be over.'

Was there ever a time when you looked back, maybe days, weeks, or even months later – if you were lucky to be alive in my case – and remembered what you said, and then wondered how naive, how stupid, blind and dim-witted you were when you said those words? And believed they were true?

I would look back on that moment for the rest of my limited life.

* * *

Suspenseful?

I'll be adding my great friend DanaNightShadeAzimuth's OC in my next few chapters. Credit goes to her for that!

R&R. Cheers!


	7. It's Always Nightime Here

Getting out was much easier than I thought. You'd think for an asylum they'd have a hell amount more of security. Oddly, we didn't have any trouble at all. Probably because their security was so focused on the rest of the asylum that the guest block was not monitored as much as they thought it would be. Not that we cared.

We put on the black hoods and slid down the pipe outside our window. We then spent the next two hours running through the darkness with our only aid being the moon and the tiny flashlight that we had.

We reached the out-skirts of the island. Rotting and crumbling ruins remained here. Just what we needed. There were intact rooms but no one had bothered to go there anymore. There was no need for them to.

There was a concrete bunker that me and Rex finally decided to stay in. It was protected by rainwater and the harsh wind. I didn't even bother to do anything else. I just collapsed on the ground and tried to get myself to sleep. You might think that it came easily, but it didn't. The howling wind and torrent of rain was to thank for that. I didn't sleep a wink until sun-rise.

'There's a huge library near-by,' Rex said to me as I stood up from the ground. 'Our answer should be there.'

'I hope so,' I said. 'I'm sick of this place.'

The library did contain books. More books than I'd ever seen in my lifetime. But there was also a computer. I walked over to it. Unlike in the movies and fanfictions, this computer was protected by a horde of passwords and protections.

I sat down in the metal chair. I looked at the screen.

'I don't even understand the language the computer was written,' I said. 'How the hell am I supposed to get into it?'

'There must be a way,' Rex said. 'Hackers always leave a back door. There's got to be one.'

'I don't even know where to start,' I said.

'Move over,' Rex said. 'This is going to be really interesting.'

_**(A/N: There are lots of methods to hacking computers and machines. I do know (after years of learning and persistent courses) how to get into the machine. I'm not going to in anyway explain how to do it now. Mainly because it's extremely complicated and because it's illegal. But I will show you how it's done after the hardest parts have gone out of the way. It's easy enough to understand now...)**_

Almost fifteen minutes after a series of reboots, clicks, button presses and doss commands, Rex finally was able to open up Command Prompt via System Settings.

'I might be able to find the password on the computer,' he said. 'Or even better I might find information that we're looking for.'

He typed in these commands:

F: a

F: dir

He was then shown a huge amount of folders and files in the drive. He typed this in:

F:\ cd Aseer Files

F: Aseer Files dir

He was then shown all the files inside that folder. He found the one that he was looking for. The one titled 'Diary'.

He typed in:

F: Aseer Files

The file opened. Each log was dated. Rex skimmed through the document. He came to the most recent log. It was an extraction of an email:

'_Finding it hasn't been easy. I have a feeling those bastards escaped from the island with ease. She doesn't know anything. She has no more use for us, so we'll do away with her. There are other ways to find it, but we need them. The only way to open the portal to the past is by them. All we need to do is resurrect him. It's as simple as that. He worked on the Clock. He knew what had to be done. I suppose we all have Azimuth to thank for that._

'_We'll catch them again. It won't be too hard. They can never stay out of trouble for long. They need to know what remains buried. Kaden might have still left something behind. None knows where though. Capturing them must be our sole purpose. Then they'll suffer, and then suffer some more when the portal is opened. I can't wait to see the look on their faces when they see it...'_

I stared at the message for ten minutes, reading it again and again and again. I had no idea what a lot of it meant.

I knew one thing for certain: Talwyn was dead. I felt nothing. There was nothing to feel.

There was something that my father had left for me. But where? It was un-believable that I had gone through all this and never known any of this going on. But it was.

'Is there anything else?' I asked.

'Nothing,' Rex said. 'I searched the entire computer. The files self destruct and re-trace themselves. That's the only piece of information we have.'

'There's got to be something else,' I said. 'We have to search this place.'

'Not now,' Rex said. 'It's now day time and we might be found. The amount of noise we made is incredible. Let's wait until night time. It's hard for me too, but we have to.'

For the next few hours we did nothing but pace the floors. It was boring and I had nothing to do. Until a few hours before the sun set.

My ears pricked up the sound of metal against metal and the sound of running footsteps. I shined my flashlight into the darkness and saw someone, or something, running away.

'Let's get him,' I said. Rex grabbed me.

'That's what he wants you to do. We might be going into a trap. That's the last thing we need to do now.'

Grudgingly, I agreed. I did want to see where exactly he was headed, but it wasn't the right move.

'Shall we look around?' I asked. 'It's nearly dark now.'

'Okay,' Rex said. 'But take this with you.' He handed me the gun. 'You do know how to use this don't you?'

'Of course I do,' I said. 'I've been working with guns for almost a decade now...'

'Good to know,' he said. Before we went exploring, he went back and grabbed another ammo clip. It occurred to me that he was always doing to be expecting danger, no matter where he went.

The dark, twisting corridors had some sort of weird theme about it. Like it was still containing hundreds of insane criminals. I shivered even though it was too hot.

We came to a huge room. It had a room that looked near identical to the one that we found in the asylum. The one with the ritualistic scene.

'We shouldn't be here,' I said. 'Let's go. I don't like this place.'

'We shouldn't be anywhere here, and there's nothing to like about anything here,' Rex said. 'But we're going to look around anyway. This might be exactly where our answer is.'

It was tense and terrifying. The room casted weird shadows and the design showed no hint of where anything could be hiding. I never wanted to be in a place like this again.

I felt myself being pulled back suddenly. A large hand was clapped over my mouth and around my neck. I was being dragged away. Because I was putting such a fight up we both fell backways at the same time. His grip loosened on me and I shouted out before he could strangle me again. Rex opened fire. I heard the bullets rip the table next to me into shreds. Rex swore suddenly, and that was the last thing I heard.

'Whoever you are, show yourself now or I'll pump you full of lead,' he said. He pulled the safety off the gun, then he collapsed on the ground as a heavy object struck him on the head.

The lights suddenly came on. Four people came out. They stood over our bodies.

'The bastard nearly cut me into pieces,' one of them said.

'Doesn't matter,' the second one cut in. 'We have want we want. Take him to the room' – he pointed at me-'and do away with the other one.

'How?' the third one asked.

'Use your imagination,' the second one snapped.

The fourth one had not spoken yet, but now he quietly said. 'I know of the perfect place...'


	8. MedX

It's not so bad being knocked out, believe it or not. It's the waking up that's painfully. Espeically when you wake up in my conditions.

I didn't open my eyes. I was lying on my back. I was in a forced position. I opened them suddenly, so fast I didn't realize I did it.

I got good look at what my pediment was. I was lying on a stone floor in an X position. My limbs were locked down with metal bindings that tore into my skin. They must have been those cuffs that they used to seduce criminals. Inside of the cuffs were metal teeth that was as painfully as hell if you tried to move while wearing. And I was locked in them right now. Not that I could move. The cuffs were locked to the floor. My arms were being stretched to the point where I thought the bone would tear through the skin. At least I was still wearing clothes. I had the black hoodie and jeans from before. It gave me protection from the floor.

'He's awake,' a voice said. The lights suddenly snapped on. They were brutally strong and I was blinded for almost a minute.

'Who are you?' I asked.

'No one you know,' one of them said. There were two of them in the room. Both humans.

'Then what did you do to me?' I yelled. I winced as the teeth tore into my wrists.

'We're here because we're from an old friend of yours,' one of them said, leaning against the wall, cleaning some imaginary dirt from his finger nails. 'In short the Cragmities sent us. They sent us to "negotiate" you. And your friends.'

Friends?

'Although, we decided to spare you and your Lombax friend because even though doing whatever we want with you will be so much fun, we want to know where the Cragmities are headed, and what they want. We'll let you off then.'

'They're after the Great Clock,' I said. 'But I have no idea what they're going to do with it. And I have no idea where they are now. They don't know where it is.'

'I find that rather difficult to believe,' he said, walking over to me and kicked the shackle on my right leg. The teeth dug into my skin and I yelled out. 'I'm sure they told you what you want with it.'

'They didn't,' I said. 'You think they would tell me what I want with it when they tortured me to find out where it was?'

'Who knows?' he shrugged. 'They might be expecting information from you. It's a real pity you couldn't stick around for what they wanted with you, they said. 'It looks like we'll be getting the pleasure.'

'Why do you think we were in this place anyway? We were searching for more information. We didn't know where to go from here?'

The second one gave an 'I know better' smirk. I swallowed.

'We don't want to ask you now anyway. It's late and we're tired. We'll be ready for our answer in the morning. By that time you'll answer us, because your friend will have died.'

'What?' It wasn't an exclamation or question. It was a word of hopelessness.

'If it's better for you to know it'll be quick for him. He'll be gone before he feels anything.'

'At least he got the easy way out,' I spat. 'Maybe I'd like to trade places. I'm the one having to stare at you and be in your presence.'

'That'll be the least of your worries, my furry friend,' he said, smiling at me.

'How much do you get paid to kill someone? After torturing them that is.'

'I don't think it's any of your business,' he said.

'I think so because I might be a client,' I said, a blank expression on my face.

He smirked. 'Is that so?'

'Yep. I'd like to pay you to kill yourself.'

'I'm sure that it would be way more expensive than what you could afford.'

'You might be surprised at how rich I am. I've had my fair share of money myself. I'd give it all away for you of course.'

'You'd like that I suppose. Too bad for you though. And because you won't be spending the night well.'

'What do you mean?'

'Due to your cooperation I don't think we owe you anything.'

'Given the circumstances I'd say I've been behaving fine,' I said.

'I wouldn't. You can stay like this us bonus points.'

'You can't leave me like this!' I yelled, although I knew it was pointless.

'No can't. We'll add something that will make sure we get our correct answer the next day.' The first one walked over to a switch on the wall and flicked a button. I felt the floor rise. It seemed that I was lying on a table that fitted into the ground. They flipped it so that I was handing up-side down. All the blood was going to my head, and it was a few seconds that it had lasted. I was normally breaking down emotionally, but I had a sixth sense by now. I started to care about other people than myself. I wondered what they had done with Rex.

'Have a good one, Ratchet.' The door to the room slammed shut and was locked. They had left the lights on. They ones happened to be extra bright. I realized that this was a room that was meant to contain the most jaded and cold hearted people on the planet. It was holding me instead.

Although I was in intense pain, I was wondering how Rex was doing. I prayed he was okay.

By the time Rex woke up he was fully awake. That's what water does.

He was in a caged room. Water was pouring in from a hole in the wall. It was rising fast.

Not even thinking he rammed his body against the cage bars, hoping they would shatter. It seemed that they didn't want to, given that they were his prison.

I'm so screwed, he thought. The he remembered. The ammo clip.

He brought his gun out. He was surprised it was still there. Whoever left it there thought it was funny to leave him his gun and take all the ammo.

With shaking hands he loaded the ammo clip and fired it into the lock. It didn't work.

He went into a frenzy, firing again and again and again. The last bullet he had shattered the lock and opened the door. He pushed it open and ran up the stairs just as the room flooded with green water. He sank to his knees. It had happened so fast he barely realized it had happened. He was shaking like crazy as he stood on his feet again.

He was sick of being the hunted. He was now going to be the hunter.

He smiled to himself.

One of them came into the passageway after the water was cleared. Rex was hiding in the shadows so his captive didn't see what was going on. The person looked around the cage. He was about to call out when he didn't see Rex's body somewhere, but Rex was ready for him. He sneaked up behind him and knocked him out. The person collapsed to the floor. Rex smiled to himself. This guy was going to get a big surprise when he woke up.

Somehow I managed to get through the night without ripping half the fur off my body off. When I woke up I was crossed eyed and when I looked down I saw that blood was dripping from my nose.

'Ah, he's awake.' Those words and a brutal punch in the face was what welcomed me into the day. More blood dripped from my nose. I smiled. A lunatic's smile. The smile of someone who had gone crazy.

They flipped the table back to its previous position. I felt light-headed and dizzy more than I'd ever even been. My vision was blurring and the blood was roaring in my head. This was the last thing I needed.

'So, before we continue, my furry friend, do you want to tell us what we want to know?' the first one asked as he brutally kicked me with his foot in the rib. I cried out and bit back tears. 'I told you I don't know.'

He smirked. 'I was hoping you'd say that. This is going to be fun.'

He walked over to the wall of the room. He went to the switchboard. I had a cold lump in the bottom of my stomach.

The second one came over to me and stepped on each of the locks strapping my limbs down. He did it so hard that the cuffs embedded themselves in my bone. I screamed in unbelievable pain.

Then the first guy pressed a switch on the board and I felt my limbs being stretched apart. The table was extending and my limbs felt like they were being ripped apart. He stopped it just before I felt that my arms were going to come out of my sockets. He then turned the table so that it was straight up. At least the pain wasn't as bad this way.

You'd think I'd be in brutal pain but in fact I was used to it. It wasn't gone of course. It was still there and it hurt so much. But it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

'Now this isn't a position that you'd find comfortable, my furry friend. You want to talk?'

'Kill me. I don't care anymore,' I said quietly. 'Just make it quick you twisted fuck.'

'You shouldn't be saying that kid,' he said.

'You shouldn't be kidnapping and torturing people. I shouldn't be swearing. Honour amongst thieves and criminals 'eh?'

(A/N: This isn't a fanfiction that kids should be reading anyway, so if that word was far too strong for you you shouldn't be reading this anyway. Oh yeah, I made a reference there. Guess where it's from?)

'I don't think you're in a position to tell me what to do,' he said. 'Since you aren't going to talk, you can stay like that. We'll be out and about. If you want to tell us what we want yell out. If not don't bother.'

They walked out of the room to leave me to rot. As in one final twist they left the light on in my face, so when I opened my eyes I was blinded.

I knew that I had fooled them. The pain should have killed me and maybe it still would. I had taken the drugs that took almost all the pain away. I had some hidden under my arm. When I was on the ground I had slipped it so I could grip it with my neck. I had it in my mouth now. I ripped the cap off with my teeth and I chocked down the lot. I spat the bottle away and it shattered as it hit the ground.

I hoped that Rex was going to come and get me soon. I wasn't sure how much longer of this I could take.

Rex dragged his ex-captive to a room. He strapped him to a broken chair in the corner with duct tape and rope that he found. I was now waiting for him to come around.

After waiting for too long he walked over to wake him up. He hit him with the gun on the side of the face. Unlike in the movies, he woke up after the first hit. He stared at the raven Lombax, his eyes glazed before he finally figured out where he was.

_**(A/N: Okay, this scene is...inspired...from a certain game. I'll remind you that this one isn't for the faint hearted. So if you read on and don't know where the reference is from, either you need to play more games or are too young. **_

_**If you are too young to play the game I'm referring to then you shouldn't read on. Simple as that. Then again, you shouldn't be reading this fanfiction at all.**_

_**Anyway, on with it...)**_

He was about to open his mouth but Rex clicked the safety of the gun.

'Go ahead. This has a silencer. I dare you.'

The human smiled despite what predicament. 'You don't have it. The eyes of a killer. The eyes of a person who can kill just like that.'

'Nah. I'm gonna work myself up to that point in the next minutes.' He lowered the gun and aimed it at the his captive's genitals. 'My guess is that you value those.'

'So you're gonna shoot my balls off and expect me to be alive?'

Rex smiled. He squatted and reached for a metallic hand that was nearby. He slipped it on like a glove. He smoothly clenched his fists and opened them again.

'Shoot? Nope. Close enough guess though.'

His captive suddenly went very pale, but kept silent.

Without warning Rex landed a killer blow to you-know-where. His captive screamed and yelled through the duct tape that Rex put on over his mouth before beginning. He then put his hand inches away from his crotch.

'For my self dignity I'm not gonna do that,' Rex said. 'Instead, I'll do this.' He clicked the safety off the gun and held it inches away from the human's head.

'Where is my friend? Where is he!' The human pursed his lips together and refused to say a word.

'You don't think I will do you?' With one quick motion Rex aimed the gun to the side and fired a shot before aiming it at the human's head again.

'Would you like me to pull the trigger? If you don't, I think you'd do best to say something. Now.'

'I don't know where he is,' he stuttered. 'They didn't tell me.'

Rex got fed up and knocked his gun into the human's chin. He knocked his out due to the force.

'Perfect,' he muttered to himself. 'Now I'm gonna have to wait for him to wake up. I just hope it's not too late already.

(A/N: Enjoy that chapter? Since I was requested a scene like that from a...huge...fan of mine I put it in.

So anyway, try to figure out what the references are from. Here's a clue: both games are exclusive to the PlayStation 3.

Answers next chapters if you can't figure it out!)


	9. Last Hope

_**Sorry this chapter has been a little late, but I'm been busy. **_

_**Anyway, this chapter will be a little stronger themed than usual, and thanks to some 'feedback' I'm made some improvements...or at least I hope that I did.**_

_**Anyway, read on and prepare for some shocks...**_

* * *

I don't even remember waking up. I just remember hanging my head and feeling the pain come back stronger and stronger as the drug wore off.

I heard the door opening, the locks swinging back as the door to my prison was opened.

He started talking. I didn't pay attention to what was being said until I heard this.

'Look, instead of going through another day of torture, we'll just put an end to your misery. Whatdya say 'eh?'

I didn't answer. Not for a few seconds. I opened my eyes and with all the hate that I have ever used in my voice was used then.

'Why? Do you really think they'll let you go after you do this to me? Do you really think they'll have use for you after you kill someone you've never known? You're not killing just me. You're killing the only one of a whole race!'

'Naha,' he said mockingly. 'You're not the last. Your friend was also up there. Don't worry, we made sure he didn't have the position for long. We wouldn't have wanted him to see this. That woulda have been bad.'

'Stupid fucking humans,' I spat. I didn't yell. There wasn't any point of wasting what would be my last few breaths of air on them.

'Ch-yeah well, if it makes you feel better he went real quick. You won't.'

'So what are you gonna do? Just get on with it. Unless you wanted boring me to death to be part of your torture.'

'I wouldn't say anything like that if I were you,' he said. 'We have here hundreds of surgery tools here. We don't need to use antithetic. We can use blunt tools and give you a slow painful death if we wish.'

You just can't reason with a bully. That's what it was like in school for the most part. In my life, you can't reason with people would want to kill you. It was exactly the same. Typical.

I didn't say anything. Nothing that wouldn't land me in more trouble than I already was jumped to mind.

'But we're not going to do that, because doing a little housework will be too messy. I ain't in no mood to clean it up.' Something cold started creeping up my back when I heard that. ' And because we don't really want to torture you.'

'You seem to be doing a fucking good job fooling me,' I growled. The next thing I knew, I was hit on the head and I was knocked out, closing my eyes for possibly the last time.

Two hours later...

Rex was sitting one of the metal chairs in the room, waiting for his captive to wake up. When he did he was welcomed with a gun poised at blank point range at his face.

'Now, what's it gonna be?' Rex asked quietly and loudly at the same time. 'I don't have the time play screwed up mind games with you.'

Rex knew he was showing weakness, but at this point he didn't care. He knew that he had very little time left. He swore he heard the sound of a clock ticking in the background.

He released the safety and aimed the gun at his captive's feet. 'I'm going to start counting down. I'm not even going to bother to say what happens when I reach 0.'

'Look man, you don't have to do this,' he said, going pale and forcing a tight smile.

'5.'

'Stop it!'

'4.' Rex was losing his energy, but he couldn't let his captive know that.

'I'll tell you!' He shouted.

'3.'

'What? I said I'll tell you!'

'2.'

'He's in the prison room. The second one on the fifth level!'

'Now that wasn't so hard now was it?' Rex started walking away. 'Your friends can come and get you after I tell them that you gave their location to me. I'll catch you later.'

Rex locked the door as the swear words of his captive bounded off the wall. He then started running up the stairs, hoping he wasn't too late. He knew that he probably had a chance of finding his friend, but there some something at the very back of his mind that bothered him. A voice quietly telling him that it was too late. That he couldn't do anything to save Ratchet.

For once that voice inside his head was right.

The bitter cold was bringing me back to this world. I wished it didn't. I wanted to just lie there, asleep for the rest of my life. But of course, that would have been too easy. My eyes snapped open.

I was lying on the same bench that I was on before. I was in an X position this time round though.

This room was a lot bigger than the last. It was shaped in some sort of sphere. I saw that my captors were on a platform about 20 metres from me.

'I'm glad to see you're awake,' he said, a hint of a smile on his pale lips. 'We didn't want to start without you.'

'Just get it over with.' I had decided that I was going to show that I accepted my fate. This was it. I was sick of all this running and hiding and getting caught. I knew that those tales of heroes (if I could call myself that) were brave and calm at their death. That they accepted their murder with courage. Sorry to break it to you, but that's a lie. It's a fucking lie. It's always terror. It's always that boulder sized fear at the bottom of your stomach that won't go away until your heart stops.

'So this tool we have here is used regularly in the asylum here. It's used to cut clean through any form of stone or metal. It's extremely effective and easy to use.' He mockingly patted what looked like a machine gun's turret with a hole about 1 centimetre in diameter. 'A laser cutter shouldn't be used for this kind of purpose, but I thinks we'll have an exception this time, m'kay?'

I didn't anything. It wasn't worth it. I closed my eyes and hoped that it would over before I realized it.

Rex burst through the room that he was told that I was in. He saw it was empty and swore, making no bones about it. He went up to the metal desk that was on the ground. He noticed the cuffs on the corners. He looked at them closely. He saw that there was blood on them and that they had traces of bright yellow hair caught in the rivets. He then saw the capsule on the ground. He picked it up and saw what it once contained. He knew that I must have used to it reduce the pain. He dropped the bottle and then rushed out the door. He knew that I hadn't gone far. Or at least he hoped not. He saw something o the ground. It reappeared every few feet. He knew that I would have done everything I could to leave a trail. Maybe this would be the thing that would save my life.

The laser had been started up and although it couldn't direct in one certain place for some reason, the laser coming through the steel bench where I was lying and it wasn't stopping. It was burning through the bench, even though it was made of steel. I shivered when I thought of what it would do to my Lombax skin and fur.

I suppose I wouldn't have long to wait now.

'I wonder how long it'll take you to die,' one of them said. 'I wonder how much pain you'll be in before it finally slices through you and kills you. Maybe you'll be alive when completely cuts through you. I wonder how long you'll have to live when it does. A few minutes? A few hours? Maybe I'll film it when it does. Teh interwebz would love to see it happening, wouldn't you agree?'

I closed my eyes. Bravery had nothing here. How brave you were, you matter how much you endured, how much you went through and could go through, death was always scary. It was always a chilling bitter truth that I was finally going to feel.

The laser was cutting to cut into the bench now. Though it was pure steel and extremely solid, the laser sliced through it like a hot knife through butter and cut through it completely.

It started moving towards me, bit by bit. My heart started thumping like a sledgehammer through my chest. Sweat was sliding down my body and soaking through my fur. My throat felt like I had swallowed a box of thumb tacks. The laser was mere inches away. I started edging away as far as I could go. The metal bindings tore into my flesh as I did this.

'Oh come on man,' he said, 'you're spoiling all the fun!'

It was so close to me I could feel the heat from the laser. I was trying to edge away but it was a far as I could go. Maybe I should move towards it. Let it cut through me. Maybe it would be quick and easy.

Then my captor started falling from the platform. His friend with him. They both hit the metal banisters bellow and into the metal grinders surrounding it. Their screams died with a sicking crunch.

I looked up and saw Rex was standing there. He saw me at once.

'Turn it off!' I shouted. It crept closer and closer to me.

'They locked it and broke the key!' He shouted. My heart sank.

'Wait!' He yelled. I knew what he was going to do as soon as he said it. He pressed a button and the cuffs locking me down were sprung free and I slid away off the table just before the laser cut directly were I was lying. I think it even chopped some of my fur off.. The metal grinders were directly beneath me. With barely even opening my eyes, I grabbed onto the right leg cuff, holding on for dear life. Rex pressed another button and the table started sliding towards the platform. He grabbed my arm and lifted me up. For a moment I didn't know what do say. He then pulled me in a tight embrace. Not the romantic type of course (I'm not that sort of Lombax and I'm pretty sure he wasn't either) but that sort that you give to a best friend that you just saved the life of. After a few minutes he led me away quietly, my arm over his head as he carried me away, the blood dripping from my wrist, the one that saved my life with its trail. Trying to forget what was behind us and start again. Of course that wasn't going to happen, but we would have never have guessed how soon it was going to be.

'We have to leave,' Rex said. 'I don't care what we have to do. Steal a ship or whatever, but we HAVE to get off this island.'

'I know,' I said quietly. I was sitting on the ground in the room we came too. My hoodie was covered with blood, and my shirt was soaked with sweat and hair, but I wasn't going to get a shower any time soon, nor was I going to complain. I was just glad to be alive and not cut in half.

'So let's go. Now. Leave all the stuff here. We'll buy it again. I took all their cash.' I got all off the floor and I followed him as he went down the corridor. He took the right corridor and started walking down the stairs.

After about ten minutes of walking, I couldn't shake off the feeling that we were going in the completely opposite direction.

'This should be it,' Rex said as he pushed the door open. I knew that this was the one that we came through. We stepped inside and I wish we didn't.

The entire place was filled with scalpels, knifes, drills, saws and every sort of sharp instrument you could think off. I was beginning to think that it was some sort of torture room, but then I saw the dozens of meats and frozen foods on the work benches when I knew it was some sort of deserted butcher parlour. Hey, asylum workers have to eat. Although I knew what the room's purpose was and that it was a hostile one, it still gave me the creeps.

I wanted to go back but the door had locked behind us. The speakers blared to life. And guess who was speaking?

'Good evening Lombaxes,' Tachyon said. Or at least his voice said. 'It's seems that you are in perfect timing to witness the end of someone you love, and yet have never met.'

'What a busy afterlife you're having,' I said.

'I'm warning you, Lombax. Everything you worked for; everything you know and love, and everything you have EVER known, you'll see and then lose, once again.

'You're the one who lost,' I said calmly. 'You're dead.'

'You'd like to think that won't you?' He said. 'Whatever helps you sleep at night, because believe me, tonight, the night of all nights, you're going to need it. As much as you can get.'

'And why would that be?' Rex asked.

'You'll find out...in your own due time.' More sniggers before the speakers went silent.

Then the machinery started clinking. I looked around, trying to see what it was. The gears, grinders, boilers, crisper and other various meat cookers also started up.

I wondered why the whole thing started up. There was no purpose was there?

Rex's eyes started widening. I followed his line of vision and my eyes started widening.

Chained to the thick steel rope that turned through the entire circuit, the one that was used to hook the meat on, was a slim, tall, dark Lombax.

A female Lombax.

And she was seconds away from the menacing machines that would butcher her to pieces in seconds.

She turned and although there was a cloth tied around her mouth, when she mouthed two words, we both knew exactly what they were.

_Help me._

_

* * *

_

_**I know I know. You want me to upload the next chapter right away. Sorry, but you'll have to wait a bit. If you want it faster, you can write a decent review and I'll quicken the pace.**_

_**Until then...**_


	10. Three Lombaxes

**New chapter is up...obviously.**

**Anyway since I am gonna make author notes I though I'd give a little more info...probably an excuse as to why I haven't been uploading many chapters recently...**

_**Playing: Dead Space 2 (PS3) Dragon Age II (PS3)**_

_**Watching: The Social Network; Black Swan**_

_**Listening to: AC/DC - Back in Black**_

_**Reading: Kathy Reichs - Virals**_

_**Eating: Nothing**_

**_Doing now: Writing this_.**

**Enough about me...read on and enjoy yourselves.**

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We were rooted to the ground. My head was spinning at hundreds of kilometres an hour. Another Lombax? How was it even possible? And a female one? No way...how could one have survived?

That didn't matter. All that mattered was that saved her from becoming mincemeat. There were spinning blades and numerous other cooking machines that she was about to go through.

Rex started moving, and I started moving as well, trying to reach her and figure something out.

'Since I was feeling generous, I thought I'd give you this one for free,' 'Tachyon' said over the intercom. 'Better hurry now. Who wouldn't want to miss this special occasion that we have right here?' He started laughing hysterically and then the connection cut off.

Rex was trying to undo the fiber chains that were holding her in place. I was hoping that we could get the female Lombax out fight now, but from the look on my face I knew that I was up for a disappointment.

Tachyon had taken everything from me. My life, my race, my planet, everything. Sure that it was decades ago, and our last meeting was at least four years old. I was older and I had changed, physical, and mentally. I didn't recognize myself in the mirror. The world was a different place.

But I wasn't going to let him take this from me. This wasn't something that would come easily from me.

But what could I do about it now?

'Ratchet,' Rex hissed at me. 'We can take the chains off, but it'll take a few minutes. She's constantly moving. We need to find a way to kill the machine and get her out of the way of the machines.'

'How are you gonna do that?' I asked desperately, but he had run over to the motor to try and stop it.

I knew that she would be butchered beyond belief in a few minutes or even a few seconds. There was a line of spinning blades coming up. They retracted for a few seconds and then started spinning away again.

I grabbed the Lombax and stood up on a bench, her body slipping away from me as I held her form being sliced up.

She knew what I was going to do and she didn't say anything...not that she could anyway, but she didn't protest or struggle.

The very second that the blades retracted I let her go. Because I had been holding her all this time, the top of the chain was quite some distance away from her, and because of this, she swung through the blades and ended up on the other side, safely through them. It had worked.

But I knew it wasn't over, and this was obvious when the next machine kicked up. It was a fire cooker that gushed blue fire from both sides and cooked everything that when through it.

I knew I couldn't pull the same stunt that I had last time...the fire was constantly shooting flames out of the pipes. There was only one thing I could do.

I grabbed a metal sheet off the ground and seconds before she was touched by the fire I jumped and caught onto the chain that was holding her up. I had wrapped the metal sheet over us and we were protected for the time being from the fire, even though I felt the brutal and unforgiving heat through the sheet...and it was getting worse.

'Rex!' I yelled. 'Do me a favour and turn the heat down a little, will you?' I felt the fire going down as we passed through the last pipe. I let go off the chain and fell backwards, coughing the smoke out of my lungs.

'Ratchet.' By that one word I knew it wasn't over, and I knew that the worst was about to come.

There was a pool of inflammable liquid in the line of the circuit. I knew that she would be coated in the stuff, and there was nothing I could do about it...unless...

Acting on impulse, I grabbed her legs and I jumped in the air and caught a rail. She was now above the pool of liquid as she was hanging almost upside down. I knew I couldn't hold on for long, and I let go the second that she was clear of the pool.

Rex had grabbed an axe or some sort of brutal weapon and was hacking at the machine. Suddenly the engine stopped and she stopped moving.

'Are you alright?' I asked.

'Yeah,' she said. Maybe it was just me, but I was surprised for her voice to be older than I thought. Then I remembered that I wasn't a child anymore. That was taken from me. I was now just finishing teenage years and into the twenties.

Time just went so fast.

I snapped out of my trance with Rex's intense yelling: 'Ratchet help me take these locks off.'

'Right.' I said as I pulled at them with my strength at them. 'Ah, these locks always seem to give me trouble.'

'Just hurry,' Rex said. 'We have to get out of here somehow. There's a meat grinder up ahead with no way to avoid it. We have to hurry.'

'I can't get them off,' I said. 'You can't break these either. I don't know what to do.'

'I do,' she said, her voice layered with exhaustion. 'Get me that alcohol over there on the desk.'

'What the hell...?' I couldn't understand why she wanted alcohol when she was about to be fed into a meat grinder like an animal.

'Just get it!' She yelled with such a strong defiance that I knew that I had only heard that stubbornness in very people. 'And give me the lot.'

I listened to her. I gave her the entire bottle. I smelled a bit of it and I had no idea that she could stomach it. This was the sort of stuff that people gathered together to place bets on who could drink the most sips without falling unconscious. And she drank the entire bottle.

I realized what she was doing too late. She twisted her left hand and before I realized it I heard twist or a snap of a bone. She didn't scream, but I knew she was in pain. She slipped her hands out of the cuffs, although she would never been able to do it before. She had broken or sprained her own wrist to get out.

'Who are you?' I asked. Rex was equally shocked.

'Kylie Azimuth. You can call me Kyle or Kay. Whatever you feel like. I'm looking for my father.'

I was dumbstruck. There was no way on the face of this earth that Alister had another child. It was impossible.

'Shit,' Rex swore as he put his hands to his face. 'No way. No way...it's impossible.'

'What?' she asked.

'Is your father Alister Azimuth?' Rex asked, short of breath.

'Yeah. What's it to you?'

'Nothing, except he was my dad too.'

She looked like she had been hit by a ship that weighed two tonnes. 'You have got to be f-'

'No,' he said soberly. 'It's true. We even look a-like..somewhat.'

'With the same stubborn personality,' I said before I knew it. They both looked at me, but only for a second or two.

'Are you looking for him too?' she asked. I knew that I had a lump in my throat...but I didn't want to imagine the lump in Rex's throat.

'No,' he said. 'He's dead.'

There were no tears. There was no screaming or yelling or mourning. She only said one word. 'What?'

So we told her. I told her everything from when I met Clank to Dreadzone to the Zoni to how we ended up here. The thing was, we left out the part about Alister almost destroying the universe and trying to kill me.

'Quite a tale,' she said. 'I remember Alister. It wasn't that long ago. The last time I saw him was five years ago. I was still in school. He said that he would be there for me when I went to college, and nothing, would stop him from being there. When it rolled around, and he wasn't there: I went off in search of him.'

'How did you end up here?' I asked.

'It doesn't matter,' she said. 'The one thing I don't understand is: why did he die and how?'

I knew it was going to be hard, so Rex explained it. As you can imagine, it didn't go so well.

'I don't believe that,' she said. 'Do you really expect me to believe that my father, was the reason the Lombaxes were destroyed and then he nearly destroyed the whole galaxy? Sorry, I don't play that bullshit.'

'It's true,' Rex said, getting to his feet. 'Our father did do those things, and he was the reason why the Lombaxes were destroyed, he-'

Rex couldn't get another word in as Kylie tried to punch him in the face. I caught the fist just in time with my hand.

'Hey, that's enough,' I yelled as Kylie struggled to wrench her hand out of mine and probably knock us both out. 'Calm down, geez.'

She said in a much calmer but a verging on tears voice: 'I thought I knew him. I thought that he was the father I always thought he was.'

'I know,' I said softly. 'We'll figure this all out. We just need to get the hell out of here.'

'Then let's go,' Rex said, just as the door burst open and three guys strolled in. We hid just in time before they saw us. They went over to the meat grinder. They swore when they saw nothing had passed through them.

The speaker sprung to life.

'I asked you to kill her, and then the other two, and you failed me. Fix it.'

You know what's coming next...

The speaker sprung to life again, but we hard it blare all over the asylum grounds:

'Tachyon here, with a little update for you all. There's three Lombaxes, running around the asylum, trying to escape. I know, crazy isn't it? Do put them out of their misery. Simple?

Well just to let you know, they probably have guns, knives, and other weapons to get revenge on you. They escaped the first time. Don't let it happen it. Your blood boiling? Hearts thumping? Feeling under pressure? Find them or I'll fix your blood pressure, permanently.'

We waited until the guys in the room left. We then went out the back door, keeping to the shadows and walls as walked past windows splattered with grime and dirt.

They walked past, carrying various weapons. I didn't want to see any of those thrust in my face, so we waited as long as it took in the dark shadows and corners, for what was probably hours.

The speakers came back to life:

'Haven't found them yet? Who's gonna find who first? My money's on them of course.' A hysterical laugh. 'You guys are making it easy for them.'

'We're not going to hide the entire time,' I said to Rex and Kylie. 'Let's see if we can take them out. We don't have a choice for any other way.'

'Alright,' Rex said as quietly as he could. 'But we have to be careful. If they see us we're dead.'

'We don't need to take them all out,' Kylie said. She had been quite until then. 'We just need to take one out and then the rest will all try to find him and leave their posts.'

I'd never would have thought of that. 'Okay then, but we have to find a way to take him out. That's the hard part.'

Just then we heard someone turn the corner and approach the room in which we were in.

'Let's do this for starters.' Rex hid behind the door as the man walked through and entered. Rex used his elbow to smack the guard in the forehead, and then he wrapped it around the man's mouth and held his nose. After a few seconds of no one breathing, especially the guard, who didn't exactly have the choice, he slumped unconscious.

'Good idea wasn't it?' Rex was still holding on to the unconscious guard, as he didn't know that he was unconscious.

'I think that's enough,' I said dryly as Rex let go of the man. He hit the ground with a loud whack.

'Now what?' Rex asked.

'We get out of here and drag him out into the hall for them to see. Then the first chance we get we get the hell out of here.'

We dragged the man out into the hall and then quietly ran up a flight of stairs and into the next room. We just closed the door when the paging system kicked started to life and Tachyon's voice was heard:

'Hrm...wasn't there more of you today? Maybe one's missing? I keep losing count...' A laugh erupted again through the system.

'You heard the boss!' The sound was freakishly close, and we saw that the floor was transparent from our side. We saw them all searching the corridors for us. It had worked. I breathed a sigh of relief.

We ran down the next pack of stairs, and we were now in the room that we had viewed from the floor above. The door was leading to the way out.

'Let's go,' Rex hissed as I hesitated before going out the door. I knew that this place probably held the key to the mystery. I remember what was said in that email:

"The portal to the past needs to be opened. I can't wait to see the look on their faces when they see it."

'Search the office. Quickly.'

'We don't have the time,' Rex said as I started searching through the filing cabinets. 'We have to get out of here now!'

'And go where?' I asked. 'I need to know what they said in that email. I need to know.'

They started helping me out. I went through the files names, hoping for a breakthrough.

I picked out "Lombax" "Time" "Polaris" and "Clock" out of the cabinet. They were securely locked by a gel-pad. This wasn't like other locks. This protected the file with a password and other requirements. One mis-step, one hesitation by a fraction of a second, and the file inside would be shattered and burnt from the inside out. The remains would be completely destroyed. I knew we had to get it by other means.

'Let's go now,' Rex said as he headed out the door.

'Wait.' I got the tube of the gel pad and sprayed it all over the room. I then grabbed a carton of fuel, and some vodka and spirits that the thugs undoubtedly got drunk on whilst on patrol. I opened them all up and dumped them on the floor.

'Let's give them something to remember us by shall we?' I grabbed a box of matches and headed out the door. I lit a match, and put it inside the box. I dropped it as the box burst into flames. I shut the steel door before the box dropped to the ground. Barely.

There was no sound, just a huge heatwave that must have singed my fur. And this was behind a steel door. An evil smile twisted on my lips. They weren't going to forget us in a while.

I was still smiling as we exited the building and ran to the next building to spent our last night on the island.

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More twists to come...I promise I'll do it fast...or rather the reviews promise me that I'll do it fast...whatever that means.

ANYWAY, R&R...you don't have all the time in the universe.


	11. Oblivion

_**This will be the last chapter for this fanfiction. The story will be continued next fanfiction shortly. Read on if you may:**_

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I was so tired that I crashed to the ground, barely realising that I had no protected from the ground except what I was wearing, but I was too tired to think about that. All I wanted was to go to sleep forever, but I knew that wouldn't be the case.

After hours of running through twisting corridors and doors and pathways we finally came to a room that looked a remotely decent room to spend the night in. It was warm and hidden away, and it had a few small beds and sleeping bags.

No one really said a word. We were just glad to be out of that hell hole in which we were in.

The day turned into night as we waited for it to happen. We discussed what we were going to do. I held the locked files in front of me.

'This might have all the information we need,' I said. 'But one single mistake and we're all screwed.'

'These things can be undone without the code. They need to be dismantled, but that's almost impossible, especially if you don't know how,' Kylie said. 'I might known someone who could do it.'

'Can we trust him, whoever he is?' Rex asked.

'No, we most likely can't. Got any other ideas bro?'

It was pretty clear what the decision was. Kylie was going to have her way.

'We'll go in the early morning. We won't be seen then and we'll have plenty of rest.'

I wasn't going to complain with that even if I wanted to. I was too tired. Too tired to think and too tired to do anything except lie down and not say another word until we had to leave.

We didn't have any food, but then again I didn't need or want any.

The lights turned off and the room was plunged into darkness. I heard Rex slip into one of the beds, creaking as he got into it.

I just lay there for a while. I was just thinking about everything that happened. What did these files contain? What could I do to stop the Clock from being used once again? Who was this female Lombax with the attitude and guts of Harley Quinn?

I felt something. I heard someone climbing into the bed. I was tense and was about to yell out when I saw it the moonlight that it was Kylie.

'Sorry,' she said, obviously embarrassed. 'I ah...'

'It's okay.' It was clear what her intentions were. 'Stay.'

She didn't say another word. She smiled and climbed into the bed next to me. I immediately smelt vanilla and flowers. When a Lombax smells something he/she never forgets it, but it's strength varies. I knew that I was never going to forget her smell. Deep down I knew it was crazy that we were doing this when we'd only known each other for a few hours, but who was going to tell us off? No one here, that much was certain.

'I never got to thank you properly. For everything. And I'm sorry about what I did. That was stupid.'

'It's fine.'

'You know, I always knew that I wasn't the only Lombax out there. I knew that somehow I would find another Lombax, bizarre as the circumstance. And I never thought my dad was dead.'

I knew that she was barely holding herself together, especially with all the stress she'd been under. I hugged her as she buried her head in my chest, no tears streaming from her eyes.

'What was he like?' She asked. 'Tell me.'

So I did. I told her everything I knew about Alister Azimuth. She listened in silence as I went through my semi-story. I occurred to me that he had never mentioned any children, and I wondered why. Maybe he didn't want anyone to know. In a sense he could have been trying to protect them. He had obviously failed, but I wasn't going to say that to her.

'Don't tell Rex about this, okay?' Kylie said in my ear. 'I didn't trust to listen to him when he told me about Alister. I wanted to hear it from you so I knew it was the truth.'

'Sure,' I said.

'You guys must be pretty tight in there. Maybe you bring two beds together. Then you'd have more room then won't you?' Rex's muffled voice said. I thought he was asleep.

'I'd better go,' she said, taking a dead arm from under my head.

As I drifted back to sleep I thought that for the first time in my life, I had found some sort of a home, or something that truly belonged to me. A tear mixed of sadness and joy streamed down my face as I drifted to sleep.

I was awoken out of my sleep with a scratching noise at the door. I had two seconds to register the fact that something was wrong when the door was kicked open and half a dozen figures poured in.

I was lifted off the bed and thrown onto the floor. Before I can a chance to react, a cloth was stuffed inside my mouth, a strip of duct tape was wrapped around it as well. Someone pressed a knee to my back as my arms were wrenched behind me and tied together around my body. Then they tied my legs up in a similar fashion. Briefly I tested it out and I was stuck. There was no chance of me getting out of the professionally tied rope around my body. Twisting my head I saw that Rex and Kylie got the same treatment, except of the figures tying Kylie up had a bloody nose.

'And we thought that you had all died,' said a voice. I twisted around. It was the guard who had supposedly died that day that we found the ritualistic room. He picked the files up, mockingly holding them in front of my face.

'Thanks for finding these for us. We would have had trouble without your help. Too bad that you didn't know the password 'eh?' He turned out around of view and pressed something on each folder. The guy who had his knee on my back starting digging with his knuckles into my flesh, mockingly. I was burning with agony and humiliation.

'You'd like to know what each of these contain wouldn't you, Lombax?' He kneeled down and waved the silicon page in front of my face, the side with the information on the another side. I felt myself burning from the inside and out. He laughed at my obvious wrath.

'Too bad you're not going to find out what this says.' My heart sank as he slipped them all back into the one folder and then pressed a button on the side. The folder was destroyed so fast I could barely see it through my tear ridden eyes. Everything inside was gone and it was like it no longer existed.

'Now we're going to take you somewhere where I guarantee you won't be getting out of unless it's allowed, and so far that possibility isn't really in sight. I won't be going with you, so enjoy your thirty hour flight without me. And an old friend will be waiting there for you at the beginning of your end.

An old friend? My head spun. Who would it be? Drek? He was dead, that was for certain. Nefarious? No way. I saw him explode on the spaceship. Tachyon? I had heard a voice on the intercom from this island so it couldn't be him...if that was him at all. Vox? He had kicked the bucket, or rather I'd done the favours. My head run through all the enemies that I had encountered. There were of course, countless, but they had all died from what I knew, and I hoped that they did. I was still baffled.

'You'll find out soon enough,' the ex-dead guard said. He nodded towards some of his thugs. 'Take 'em.'

We were all picked up by two thugs each and carried down narrow corridors and spooky staircases. We finally came to our transport: A prison ship. I was already terrified. They must be taking us to some sort of jail or prison.

The door opened to the main room, which was surprisingly big. There were four rooms: One was the ship flight controls, the next an interrogation room, one a room for the escape risks and the main room, which we were in now.

We were all thrown onto the floor. I was unable to protect myself as I creashed onto the metal floor. I was surprised I hadn't shattered my jaw.

The guard went up to the driver's cabin. 'You know what to do.'

Then the door slid shut, the only light was from a few weak light lines running through the room. A few seconds later, we took off.

I didn't know how long I lay there without moving. Not that I could if I wanted to. I was tied up so brutally that if I did it would be probably choke me.

I wasn't sad. I wasn't depressed. I was going to hit them with all that I had. I was going to make them suffer. We all were.

For a second I almost forgot about our situation. Then it came back to me with a jolt.

I didn't see what the others were doing, but somehow Kylie got the duct tape off. She then used her mouth to rip the duct tape off Rex's mouth. I knew it hurt but he didn't yell out. He spat the cloth out of his mouth the first chance he got. I wondered where the clothes had been before they shoved them in our mouths. I shuddered at the thought.

Kylie walked on her knees over to me. She winked at me, and then she ripped the duct tape off my mouth. Then she pressed her lips to mine. For the next minute or so I was lost in the world that I hadn't ever set foot on before. I knew that she was the one I wanted to spend my life with. I knew she was the one who I would always love.

I was grateful that Rex didn't say anything to interrupt, as it was already awkward enough, and he would have made it even worse if he had.

Then when it finished, she just lay on top of me. I smiled and closed my eyes, trying to convince myself that it was going to be okay. That it was going to be alright and I was going to make it out safely.

Even though I knew this was untrue, how untrue it was was unknown to me, which was just as well, because if I had known I would have been petrified at the thought.

I drifted off into what you could call a sleep, but I was always jolted awake by the moving of the ship as it flew us to hell.

Hours later, I heard the door open. Two of the pilots walked in.

'We had to do this sooner or later, but we might as well do this now. It's not like we'd get in trouble for it.'

They yanked me up from the floor, dragged me a few metres into one of the other rooms and threw me in. They walked inside and shut the door. I heard Kylie's yell for a microsecond before the door closed shut.

The lights turned on. One of them got a knife and sliced through the ropes that had tied me up for a dozen hours or so.

I saw that the room was some sort of experiment room. It wasn't a torture room, but it looked close enough, even though there weren't any torture instruments in sight.

One of them plunged a tranquilizer into my skin. I felt the effects instantly: My eyes were droopy, I felt heavy and weighed down, I was sweating and I felt dizzy. Not a good start.

'Sit down,' one of them said. I was in no mood to argue, so I did. I shut down heavily in one of the dozen chairs in the room. One of them fixed up a tube so that more of the drug was pumping into my skin as I sat there.

They hadn't tied me down or hurt me, so it was great to assume they weren't going to butcher me to pieces. Although I had no idea what they were going to do.

It seemed that hours passed by. The drug was doing something to my mind. I saw images, people, scenes, words, so much that it felt like a lifetime of experience, all meshed into a few hours, and the details were all just beyond my mental reach. It was confusing and depressing. It made me miserable.

I felt myself being dragged out of the room. I heard laughter, a voice on the intercom. I heard the voices of Rex and Kylie. I felt them both being dragged out. I was left in the room to my thoughts.

They didn't know it, that drug an unlocked some answers. I knew what I had to do. I remembered it clearly now. The final key to the puzzle.

Kaden had left a capsule on my home planet. I couldn't remember the name. It was so hard to remember. All I knew was this:

In that capsule was the answer to use the clock properly. The answer to re-write the code to reverse everything that happened and bring the Lombaxes back and peace to the universe.

Except if I did, I might never exist. It might go so far back that the universe would start over new.

And if that wasn't bad enough, if anyone got there first, they got use it as well, to reverse everything that happened, going back to any point in time. One chance to do it, and one date.

That date would change the universe forever. It might even destroy it.

I had to get there and fix it all. I had to change back everything that had happened.

But first I had to go through whatever was lying ahead.

And I might not get through it.

That was the last thing I thought before I slipped into eternal oblivion.

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_**I really can't explain how I feel at the end of my second fanfiction. I never thought I'd be writing this long and have this much attention and friends here, but I was wrong. Thank you all for making it an enjoyable experience.**_

_**More information next fanfiction...and please leave feedback as you see fit.**_

_**RT**_


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